The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-07-06

our way to the valley, going faster at
every breath, nothing to stop us, death
ahead, and the dovils own railroad un-
derneath. was sitting almost erect in
the saddle. Tho leather flaps had twist.
ed around and kept my legs from rub
blng against the side of the trough, but
held me like bands of iron. Even bad
they not, jumping of would have been
out of the question. have never been
on a toboggan, but / think that people
who have will understand why [ bent all
my energies to holding on. / did not
faint and did not get dizzy; there was u
hldeous roaring in my ears, furious
wind seemed to all of sudden to tear
up the mountain and suck the breath
out of my mouth, but everything was
deadly clear and distinct. / could SEQ
black specks grow suddenly into big
pines and then shoot past me. | could
even SEQ the snow caught in their needles
as they came whizzing up. Every in
slant, through some clearing, j could see
the valley, in a flash, and over it all was
a sickening feeling as though tho noun
tain was sinking away from me, aul |
was plunging out into immcasurable
space. SO strong was this that even
now, standing on the solid marble floor,
L can recall the qualm and nausea as all
support seemed to give away, the earth
tip up and let me fall, fall, fall-it felt rs
if forever. a mass of rock as large as
this hotel was beneath me. AS / looked
it seemed to leap into the air like n bal
loon. There was black line of forest
below. L shot through it as through u
tunnel, and out into the light again.
tried to shut my eyes 1t was impossi-
ble' 1 tried to scream. Tho air had
turned to stone.
81 have read that when men are about
to die their lives reel out before them
like a panorama. Mine didn't All L
could think of was the crash, the bloody
mass of man and horse lying somewhere
in the valley, and remember was glad
in wild, crazy kind OF way that it
would be all over in an instant and that
it wouldn't hurt me. | knew we must
be nearly there. The trees and rocks
were undistinguishablc, when all of II
sudden black mass flew up into my
face. L felt that L was being beaten,
bruised and hurled over and over, and
then everything was still.
"Whcn the moon was well up / came
to myself. l was lying in q snowdrit,
rubbing at my head and moaning. After
Il long time | crawlcd little ways, and
then fell down and cried for my very
helplcssncss. l must have been II little
ilighty, and heaven knows hows how |
found my way to Lacy mill, quarter
of mile beyond; but / did, somehow,
and they carried me in and sent for help.
You sec the old timber shoot had Talon
into decay, and some distance above tho
yard was broken place that saved my
life. When we reached it the dead
broncho jumped the trough and the two
of us went sailing and turning and
cavorting over field of fresh snow until
we stuck into drift about 500 yards
away. The broncho had the worst OF
it, even there, for he kept on going un-
til he struck solid earth. | broke three
ribs and this arm in SO many different
places that the doctor wanted to cut it
off and be done with it. What puzzled
the mill men most was that my legs cs-
capped, but the saddle flaps were worn TO
fringe and / suppose that explains it.
From the point where | started to the
break was over two miles, and the old
hands there said logs used to mrko 1t in
less than two minutes. ! had no stop
watch, but Ii back myself against any
log that ever made the trip"